52. Sebree, Kentucky

Day 52:  Wednesday, August 12, 1981
Elizabethtown, Illinois to Sebree, Kentucky:  66 miles

Georgia is used to sleeping in until 8:00 or 9:00, so she didn't budge when Jack and I got up at 6:00.  She was still in her tent when we left at 7:30.

There's a lot of barge traffic on the Ohio River.

An early morning fog along the Ohio River, and heavy dew, provided a good setting for some photos of the church and some spider webs.  The sun soon burned away the fog, and it was clear when we arrived at Cave in Rock, on the Kentucky border.

Wonder what's in the cave...

 

Not much.

I spent a couple of hours wandering around the state park there.  Jack had seen it before, so he wasn't too interested.  Bluffs in the park provided a good vantage point for watching the barge traffic up and down the river, heavy even at nine in the morning.  A hundred years ago, pirates used the bluffs to spot boats with valuable cargo, then would signal confederates who were waiting downstream to attack.  And even more recently, outlaws used the cave to hide from the law.






  

It was a fun little ferry trip.

The ferry across the river at Cave in Rock is small and traffic is light, but it runs every ten minutes or so.  We paid 50¢ fare; cars were charged $3.


Today's Kentucky roads were narrow, but with a good surface and lightly traveled.  Many of the side roads have unusual names - after a church or a resident or something that may have happened in the vicinity.  The first side road we came to was Aunt Jane Underdown Church Road!  We passed through Marion and Clay, and stopped in Sebree for the night.  No problem finding a place to camp here - the city park is large, well-used, and open to bikers.

We passed several surface coal mines today, but encountered no truck problems, although there were many trucks headed west between Clay and Sebree.  Their loads were covered, probably to secure the load and control the coal dust.

We didn't have a tailwind today, but it was pretty easy going.  The hills weren't bad, and we passed along several valleys.  The days are cooler now, and we're back to using our sleeping bags at night.

The Louisville & Nashville Railroad passes about 100 feet from our tent.  It's a heavily-traveled line, and there's a grade crossing in the park.  So I expect to be awakened by the whistle whenever a train passes through...